BEPZA FY22 investment stands at record $410m

Eight Export Processing Zones (EPZ) of the country under Bangladesh Export Processing Zones Authority (BEPZA) has attracted a record investment in FY22 surpassing all previous records.

The investment increased to $409.80 million in FY22 with a growth of 20.26%. The investment was $340.75 million in FY21.

At the same time BEPZA witnessed a significant rise in the indicators of export and employment generation in the recently ended fiscal year 2021-22.

The exports witnessed 30.41% growth year on year while the enterprises of EPZs created new employment for 64,160 Bangladeshi nationals which is the highest in a single year in the history of BEPZA.

Chittagong EPZ has attracted the highest investment of $88.86 million followed by Dhaka EPZ’s $71.07 million, Adamjee EPZ’s $70.62 million, Cumilla EPZ’s $67.46 million, Karnaphuli EPZ’s $45.15 million, Ishwardi EPZ’s $42.78 million, Mongla EPZ’s $18.68 million, and Uttara EPZ’s $5.18 million.

The exports from the operational enterprises of country’s 8 EPZs under BEPZA reached $8,655.90 million in the fiscal year 2021-22, setting a new record crossing the $8 billion mark for the first time. The previous highest in a single fiscal year was $7,524.11 million in 2018-2019. Export receipts were 30.41% up compared to FY21, when the enterprises of EPZs brought home $6637.06 million.

Among the total export earnings in the FY2021-22, Chittagong EPZ was top by bagging $2.59 billion followed by Dhaka EPZ’s $2.12 billion, Karnaphuli EPZ’s $1.44 billion, Adamjee EPZ’s $935.76 million, Cumilla EPZ’s $814.82 million, Uttara EPZ’s $376.66 million, Ishwardi EPZ’s $209.06 million, and Mongla EPZ’s $158.24 million.

Out of the total export of EPZs, the apparel shipment accounts for only 54.68% whereas 85% of the country’s total export is apparel. But the other sectors of EPZs such as garment accessories, footwear & leather goods, textile, tent, cap, plastic goods, and electronics captured a fair share in the export earnings.

BEPZA made a milestone by creating employment for 64,160 Bangladeshi nationals in FY 2021-22, a 36.51% rise compared to the previous fiscal year when 47,000 new jobs were created.

The BEPZA authorities are hopeful that the investment would increase more from FY 2022-23 by the operation of BEPZA Economic Zone - the largest ever venture of BEPZA. Till June 2022, BEPZA allowed 10 companies to set up industries in BEPZA with a total proposed investment of $215.66 million which will be added as actual investment from the current FY.

Along with host Bangladesh the investors of 37 countries including South Korea, China (Taiwan & Hong Kong), Japan, India, UK, USA invested $6,040.43 million in EPZs as of June 2022. The total exports from the 456 operational enterprises of 8 EPZs reached to $96 billion where the number of cumulative employment stands at 5,02,365 till June 2022, BEPZA data showed.